Expansion retainer device



April 1952 B; H. FORD ETAL 3,028,981

EXPANSION RETAINER DEVICE Filed April 9, 1959 ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Ofiice ?atented Apr. 1!), 1962 3,028,981 EXANSQN RETAHNER DEVBCE Barton H. Ford, @maha, Nehru, and Michael 5. Ford, Hartszlale, assignors, by means assignments, of one-half to international Paper Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York, and one-half to The Stanley W rhs, New Britain, Qonn, a corporation of Connecticut Filed Apr. 9, 1959, See. No. 865,331 2 (Balms. (l. El iidi) This invention relates to an expansion retainer device, and more particularly to a resilient inflated balloon and support means for maintaining packages and articles within a freight vehicle against substantial movement.

In the shipment of boxes and articles in railway cars and other freight vehicles, it is important to provide means for maintaining the containers and articles in position during shipment to prevent damage caused by the colliding of one container with another, etc. Fur her, it is important to provide, along with expansion means, some relatively firm surfaces against which the packages may abut when they are supported by an expansion or inflated member.

An object of the present invention is to provide an expansion device or bellows utilizing relatively rigid board surfaces in conjunction with inflated means for maintaining the alignment between packages and articles, etc. in a freight vehicle. A further object is to provide a device which can occupy little room or much room, depending upon the space that needs to be filled, while maintaining boxes and containers, etc. against substantial free movement during the travel of the freight vehicle. Other specific objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

The invention is shown, in an illustrative embodiment, by the accompanying drawing, in which-- FIGURE 1 is a broken plan sectional view of a por tion of a freight vehicle in which packages are held in alignment by an expansion bellows or device embodying our invention; FIG. 2, a broken top plan view of the bellows device embodying our invention, a portion of the device being shown in section; and FIG. 3, a perspective view of the expansion device.

In the illustration given, A designates a freight vehicle such as a railway car or truck provided with door openings A. In one end of the car A are mounted boxes of various shapes and dimensions, separated by the expansion device 12.

The expansion device 12 comprises a bellows member 13, which may be formed of plastic, rubber, synthetic rubber, impregnated fabric, and any other suitable material. We have found that polyethylene film provides an ex'ellent bellows for the purposes set out herein. The film 13 is arranged with a V-recess 14 around the periphery of the bag and the side walls of the bag are flat and attached to double face corrugated boards 15. Each of the corrugated boards has an inner liner 16, a core 17, and an outer liner 18.

Within the bag provided by the film 13 we provide a capsule 19 which is preferably secured to a side wall of the film 13 by adhesive, the capsule being thus accessible for breaking. The capsule contains gas which, when released, will fill and expand the bellows member 13. Since the gas-carrying capsule 19 is of well known construction, a detailed description herein is believed unnecessary. Further, it will be understood that the bag provided by the film 13 may be inflated by any other suitable means, as, for example, by admitting compressed air into the interior of the bag through a conventional air inlet pressure cap.

The film 13, with the J-shaped recess, provides a composite bellows structure 20 which is effective in pressing outwardly the side boards 15 formed of corugated board. Instead of corrugated board, other boards which may be rigid or semi-flexible, may be employed. We have found that the corrugated board 15 is particularly useful because it is relatively li ht, sturdy, and because the depth of the corrugated board serves as a means for protecting the cartons and boxes and presenting a surface against which they may be aligned. At the same time, the cardboard permits some yielding to provide the uneven line presented by boxes of different dimensions.

The bellows arrangement is found to be particularly effective in permitting the product to be collapsed into a very small package for shipment, while at the same time expanded into a uniformly wide expansion member against the boxes which are to be retained against movement within the vehicle. Further, the V-shaped recess about the periphery of the expansion member 20 provides greater resilience adjacent the edges of the member 2%) while concentrating the pressure against the faces of the boxes or cartons while also permitting a slight tilting of one member 15with respect to the opposite member 15 in a vertical direction under the pressure of the cartons or boxes being shipped.

If polyethylene plastic is used, we find that it is necessary or desirable to treat the outer side surfaces of the polyethylene so that it will retain adhesive and anchor the sides to the corugated boards 15. Effective treatment is provided by subjecting the surface to flame impingement or by electron bombardment so as to cause the polyethylene molecules to become unsaturated. Such treatment is well known, and it is effective in rendering polyethlylene and some other resin plastics retentive to adhesives.

While in the foregoing specification we have set forth a specific example of the expansion device in considerable detail for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be understood that such details may be varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of our invention.

We claim:

1. An expansion retainer device for stabilizing a load of different dimensioned boxes, and the like, comprising a flexible gas-impervious balloon having opposed parallel flat sides, and semi-rigid boards equipped with corrugated cores anchored to said flat sides, the said balloon being in the shape of a bellows having V-shaped spaces between the ends thereof, said boards being yieldable to conform to the uneven contour presented by boxes of different dimensions.

2. An expansion retainer device for stabilizing a load of different dimensioned boxes, and the like, comprising a flexible gas-impervious balloon having opposed parallel fiat sides, and semi-rigid boards equipped with corrugated cores anchored to said flat sides, the flutes of said corrugated cores extending in the same direction, the said balloon being in the shape of a bellows having V-shaped spaces between the ends thereof, said boards being yieldable to conform to the uneven contour presented by boxes of difierent dimensions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,864,648 Haines June 28, 1932 2,196,470 Montgomery Apr. 9, 1940 2,328,397 Neuman Aug. 31, 1943 2,366,741 Manson Ian. 9, 1945 2,774,503 Moore Dec. 18, 1956 2,856,867 Dasey Oct. 21, 1958 

